Learning to see
Do you find yourself to be mentally elsewhere most of the time? Which means body is present but mind is absent, involved not in experience of the immediate context but lost in thoughts?
Welcome
You are in the cultural space of modernity. Absence is one of the characteristics of being 'modern'
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Even though seeing is the most natural act, as of now real seeing doesn’t happen as we are full of theories. Seeing requires us to be present. True seeing also awakens our aesthetic sense. Beauty can help us to move away from the egoistic reasoning mind.
Various elements that are a building factor in awakening the aesthetic sense will be explored experientially from the daily context of the learner’s life.
This workshop would be meditative, self-reflective and experiential with a focus on keen observation of the immediate environment for color, texture, shape etc. Various activities would be drawing, painting, clay work, wood work etc. So, the focus is on experiencing of color, form, texture etc. from daily experience.
Learning to see is a retreat to reclaim our original way of seeing uncontaminated by thoughts, theories, and concepts, the way children see- with wonder, involvement, and presence. Also to learn how to keep this way of seeing from getting corrupted and habituated. Boredom is the result of NOT keeping our seeing fresh all the time. Art is a mental construct where beauty is part of our biological makeup designed to keep us in harmony with the rest of creation. The workshop is not about creating art but to de-intellectualize and de-conceptualize art and regains our authentic connection with the beauty of nature and the inherent beauty within us.
Learning see is also about reintegrating knowledge creation and beauty as it is the senses that connect us with knowledge and beauty. Fragmentation of knowledge, art and value is the fundamental problem of modern knowledge system.